Ayers House architectural images revealed ahead of restoration project

Work on a multimillion-dollar upgrade of Ayers House is about to start. Watch the fly-through to see how one of Adelaide’s finest heritage buildings will look once restored.

The state government has released the first architectural images of its multimillion-dollar restoration of Ayers House ahead of the start of building works in the coming days.

The $7.6m project will make the historic state heritage-listed building more disability-compliant, and will include asbestos removal, kitchen upgrade, installation of a new lift, new airconditioning and refurbished event spaces.

History Trust of SA will relocate its administrative offices to the building once the work is completed later this year, replacing former occupant the National Trust, which had acted as a caretaker of the property for nearly 50 years.

Artist’s impression of Ayers House upgrade. Picture: Supplied

The decision to terminate the National Trust’s lease in June raised the ire of the not-for-profit organisation, which later commenced legal proceedings in a bid to block its removal from the property.

Environment Minister David Speirs said the legal action had since been discontinued, and the government was now focused on delivering “probably the most significant heritage restoration of any building in the state’s history”.

“We saw a more exciting future than they (National Trust) were offering for this building,” he said.

“We provided them with sufficient and generous funds to exit the building and all legal proceedings were discontinued a couple of weeks ago.

The upgrades will make Ayers House more disability compliant, and will include installation of a lift. Picture: Supplied

“It (Ayers House) was really just being managed into what I’d describe as genteel decline – it has really needed this significant investment of funds to bring it to life and that’s what we’re doing.”

It is understood the government contributed more than $200,000 towards the National Trust’s relocation costs, including the removal of several thousand historic items from the North Tce property.

National Trust SA chief executive Darren Peacock said those items were now in storage as his organisation continued its fight against its forced exit.

“We’ve had 15,000 people sign our petition against this proposal - there’s strong community support for the National Trust to return to Ayers House,” he said.

“We have an election coming up in a month, and certainly the Labor party have committed to legislation to put Ayers House in the permanent care and control of the National Trust ... and that’s supported by a number of the other cross-benchers.

“The minister continues to mis-represent what they’re actually doing at Ayers House. It’s not the case that it’s a restoration project - they’re basically doing an office conversion and kitchen upgrade ... and in the process the public are going to lose access to the building.”

However, Mr Speirs said Ayers House would be available for public functions once it reopens later this year, while the History Trust would also host a series of events, lectures, displays, exhibitions and guided tours.

Artist’s impression of the upgraded dining room in Ayers House. Picture: Supplied

“It will also become the focal point for history month – the History Festival of South Australia – and we expect tens of thousands of people to visit this site during history month alone,” he said.

“It’s going to bring it (Ayers House) to life and it’s not just going to be a tired old museum anymore.”

Ayers House was the family home of notable SA colonist and seven-times SA premier Sir Henry Ayers.

The closure of The Ayers House museum in September coincided with the end of the National Trust’s lease.

The National Trust occupied Ayers House for nearly 50 years before its forced exit from the building last year. Picture: Marnie Hawson

The restoration project is expected to be completed by October.

Last week the government named 21 state heritage-listed properties that had secured a combined $250,000 in the latest round of heritage grant funding, including the Point Lowly Lighthouse near Whyalla, which will undergo an external restoration.

An additional $250,000 was awarded to seven historic SA sites, including The Cedars tea shop in Hahndorf and the Murphy’s Haystacks geological site at Streaky Bay, in the inaugural round of the Heritage Tourism Grants program.